Points for ultra-low spenders?

I am new to frequent flyer miles, and am trying to accrue enough points/miles to go to Europe (Vienna, Prague, Budapest) for a summer 2015 honeymoon. We are both in grad school and only do not spend very much on a monthly basis. I was looking into credit card sign-on bonuses, but I just do not spend $3000 in a three month period.

Do some reading on manufactured spending. The gist of it is that you buy things like pre-paid cards and then cash them out at or very near to par value. A $500 card might cost you only $3.95 in fees. Do that a few times and you've got your $3000 in spend (and the bonus points) for <$50 plus a bit of your time.

Some key things to look in to include Vanilla Reloads/Bluebird (alluded to above), Amazon Payments (be careful with this as the T&Cs and how people use it for manufactured spending probably aren't quite aligned), Venmo and more.

We are both in grad school and only do not spend very much on a monthly basis. I was looking into credit card sign-on bonuses, but I just do not spend $3000 in a three month period.

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Is your low spending due to low access to funds, or do you have the capabilities to spend more than you do?

I think if your access to your cash is constrained then the gift card method of manufactured spend will be the best along with AZ pmnts since you can setup a system to return the funds to cash more quickly.

On the other hand if you have ample access to funds, there is a lot you can do in the charitable world. I do my charitable giving via credit card whenever possible, versus writing a check or doing some sort of pay roll deduction. (I've been told its cheaper for charities to take credit cards over payroll programs like the United Way or CFC.)

Additionally I'm a huge promoter of Kiva and providing micro finance loans funded via a credit card. The shortest term loans are 4-6 months so at a minim your money will be tied up that long. However ideally you will enjoy this endeavor, find your float growing rapidly, and thus end up benefiting the lenders even more. I find it a lot easier/frequent/desirable to add new funds then wait for loans to mature and pull some of the money out.

Another thing to remember is that you can often boost your credit card spend significantly by switching any bills you pay now by check or automatic deduction from your bank account to payment via credit card. (For example, I pay all my utility bills by credit card now.) You spend the same amount of money, but one method of payment earns you points and helps you make minimum spend on a card, while the other just gets your bills paid.

That said, you're probably going to have to look at the manufactured spend techniques several other posters have already mentioned to meet your goal. And before you commit to earning airline and hotel points, do understand the drawbacks of the programs. Points and miles are becoming harder to use, especially if your travel dates are firmly fixed. But if you can be flexible (especially about flight dates and destinations), they can save you a bundle.

Another thing to remember is that you can often boost your credit card spend significantly by switching any bills you pay now by check or automatic deduction from your bank account to payment via credit card. (For example, I pay all my utility bills by credit card now.) You spend the same amount of money, but one method of payment earns you points and helps you make minimum spend on a card, while the other just gets your bills paid.

The USAirways card will give you 35,000 miles after just one purchase (no minimum $$ amount).
There are some Citi AA cards that will give you 30,000 miles after spending $1000 within 3 months. Since AA and USAir frequent flyer programs will merge later this year, that would give you 65,000+ miles. If you do a search for credit cards with low minimum spends you will find some others. Good luck.

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